KB898461 failed to install, but is unnecessary with SP3 installed

[M Skabialka]

I took two identical older computers and simultaneously reformatted and
installed Windows XP SP2 on both of them at once. Everything worked great
on one machine, but on the other I kept having odd things happen. At first
it wouldn't join the domain, under the same conditions as the first machine.
I rebooted, then it would. I installed SP3 on each before looking for
updates so it wouldn't find as many, then told it to look for updates on
each machine. The first went fine, installed all updates and waited for
further instructions. The second got stuck on installing the Windows
Genuine Advantage Tool, but I found a workaround on the internet so it has
installed. Now it keeps trying to install KB898461 over and over but fails
every time. I tried this:
net stop wuauserv
Click OK.
Navigate to the WINDOWS\Software Distribution folder. Rename the
Software Distribution folder to SoftwareDistribution.old .
Go back to Start, Run, type in
net start wuauserv
I then found a download copy of the update and tried to install it but got a
message that this update is not necessary because I have SP3 installed!

If it isn't necessary why is it still trying to install it?
How can I work around this? The other machine is ready for use already!

 

[M Skabialka]

Problem resolved:
I removed SP3, installed the errant update KB898461 manually, and half a
dozen other updates that were critical updates, then reinstalled SP3. This
worked! I am able to find new updates and install them.

 

[M Skabialka]

I spoke too soon - there were several updates which did not install. I
tired a few things on the Internet which made things worse - I lost the
update history, etc, so having wasted a day on this reformatted and started
over.